The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later, on October 20, 1914 aboard HMAT Euripides.

Euripides sailed, along with other troop transports, to Albany in Western Australia, where they grouped to form the First Detachment of the Australian and New Zealand Imperial Expeditionary Force, which sailed from King George’s Sound on 1 November 1914.

They sailed via Columbo and Durban and arrived in Egypt on December 2, 1914.

After disembarking at Alexandria they were transported by train to encampments in the desert around Cairo.

The 1st Brigade was encamped at Mena Camp, near Giza, in the shadow of the pyramids.

Here they trained for deployment to the front.

The crowded living conditions, coupled with the lack of medical facilities and lack of disease control in the Middle East, took its toll on these young Australians.

A major outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia, mainly associated with measles, occurred among the troops at Mena Camp in early 1915.

The most characteristic feature of the outbreak was a fibrinous pleurisy, so dense that it gained the local name ‘the Mena shawl’.

Many young soldiers, including Billy Simon, fell victim to this outbreak.

Billy died of the disease on February 18, 1915 - the first soldier from the Macleay River to die on active service in the First World War.

Billy was buried in the Protestant section of the British Cemetery at Giza.

The edition of The Sydney Mail of 11 August 1915 published a photograph of a cross marking his grave at Giza. The photograph was headed “A lonely grave in the desert”.

In forwarding a copy to his parents, Lieutenant Manning of D Company wrote: “Your son was universally liked by both officers and men and we all threw in our bit to erect this stone to his memory.”

Billy’s mates in his battalion went on, two months later, to take part in the ANZAC landing on April 15, 1915 as part of the second and third waves, and served there until the evacuation in December 1915.

In August, 1915 the battalion took part in the attack on Lone Pine.

Billy Simon never returned to the Macleay Valley.

His personal possessions, consisting of a chocolate box containing a New Testament, razor, watch and pipe lighter, were returned to his parents at Dondingalong.

However, this young timber cutter would not be forgotten by his friends and the people of the Valley.

On November 3, 1915 a monument was unveiled in the grounds of the Primitive Methodist Church at Dondingalong.

More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including Billy’s parents and his siblings. The memorial still stands in the grounds of the now abandoned Dondingalong Uniting Church.

When the first train of the new North Coast Railway Line arrived in Kempsey on November 28, 1917, the honour of flagging it in was given to Annie Simon, in recognition of the fact that she had been the first woman in the area to lose a son on active service.

A small plaque marking the event was erected at the railway station.

The May 2, 1915 edition of the Macleay Argus reported that: “On April 25, the third anniversary of ANZAC Day, Kempsey remembered its soldiers at the unveiling of the Municipal Honour Roll.

“The ceremony took place near the bridge in Smith St before 2000 people. The honour of unveiling the board fell to Mrs Joseph Simon, mother of the first Kempsey soldier to make the supreme sacrifice.”

The April 27, 1923 edition of the Macleay Argus reported that a memorial to those who had fallen in the Great War was unveiled on ANZAC Day at East Kempsey.

The memorial contains the names of 83 young men from the Macleay, including Billy Simon.

The portion of the cemetery where Billy is buried, along with many other Australian and Commonwealth servicemen, is now maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

However, it is in such an obscure location it is doubtful many people are able to find it.

When the grave was visited by Tim Adams, great-great-nephew of Billy Simon, in May this year, it is possible that Tim had been the only relative ever to do so.

So, as we pause on Remembrance Day to honour those men and women who made the supreme sacrifice during the Great War, spare a thought for Billy Simon, the young timber getter from Dondingalong, who was the first soldier from the Macleay Valley to die on active service.

Lest We Forget.

- Dick Adams was educated at Kempsey High and returned to spend many years as a police officer here.

He reached the rank of Deputy Police Commissioner and is now retired in Sydney.